-REPUBLICAN  ADDRESS 

To  the  Freemen  of   dnnectieut. 
FELLOW  CITIZENS, 

T4&3 
HE  GENERAL  COMMITTEE  of  the  REPUBLICANS 
of  CONNECTICUT  folicit  your  candid  attention  to  the  political 
diffenfions  which  at  prefent  agitate  this  ftate,  a  fubjedt  highly 
interefting  to  every  man  who  loves  peace  and  liberty. 

On  this  fubjeft  you  have  been  addreffed  by  a  number  of  feder- 
alifts, convened  at  Hartford  on  the  3  ist  of  May  laft. 

We  would  deem  it  a  mifapplication  of  time  and  a  departure 
from  the  true  dignity  of  ferious  difeuffion,  to  notice  what  is  ex- 
ceptionable in  that  addrefs,  for  our  objefl  is  not  to  prove  that 
the  addrefs  is  deficient  in  candour  and  truth,  but  to  prove  that 
the  mafs  of  citizens,  of  all  parties,  have  an  ineftimaWe  common 
intereft,  in  the  protection  of  which  it  behoves  them  to  unite  ; 
and-to  prove  alfo,  that  federalifm  is  a  dereliction  of  that  com- 
mon intereft,  a  bafe  betraying  of  it  into  the  hands  of  its  enemies. 
We  fpeak  here  of  the  federalifm  of  leaders  ;  for  we  know  full 
well  that  the  federalifm  of  thofe  who  lead  is  one  thing,  and 
that  of  thofe  who  follow  is  another,  and  a  very  different  thing. 

The  federalifts,  in  their  addrefs,  obferve>  that  the  origin  of 
the  difTenfions  which  difturb  the  tranquility  of  this  ftate,  is  "(b 
well  known  that  it  cannot  be  neceffary  at  this  time  to  examine 
or  explain  it."  We  think  otherwife.  We  believe  that  the 
great  body  of  citizens,  of  both  political  parties,  have  the  fame 
interefts,  the  fame  principles,  and  the  fame  general  views,  with 
regard  to  the  means  of  promoting  their  profperity,  and  of  pro- 
tecting their  liberty.  We  believe  therefore,  that  fo  far  as  dif- 
fenfions do  prevail,  they  muft  be  the  offspring  of  misinformation, 
of  miftake;  and  that,  to  put  an  end  to  thofe  diffenfions  among 
that  mafs  of  citizens  who  hare  no  private  views,  no  particular 
interefts  hoftile  to  the  common  weal,  nothing  more  is  neceffary 
than  a  true,  a  full  underftanding  of  theorigin  of  thofe  diffenfions. 

Are  the  real  interefts  of  that  clafs  of  our  fellow  citizens  who 
are  ftiled  federal  hoftile  to  or  different  from  the  interefts  of 
republicans  ?  Has  nature,  or  has  accident  adapted  one  kind  of. 
happinefs  to  one  political  feel,  and  a  different  kind  of  happinefs 
to  a  different  feel  ?  An  opinion  like  this  is  as  abfurd  as  danger- 
ous ;  for  however  the  arts  of  plaufible  ambition,  of  fkillfu! 
wickednefs,  by  exciting  and  mifguiding  the  zeal  cf  uninformed 
and  unfufpecling  integrity,  may  have  been  able  to  array  citizen 
againft  citizen,  neighbor  againft  neighbor,  and  to  plant  dif- 
truft  and  hatred  where  confidence  and  friendfhip  ought  to 
grow,  ftill  it  will  remain  an  unchangeable  truth,  that  republicans 
and  federalifts  muft  be  freemen  or  flaves,  happy  or  wretched, 
together. 

Far  then  from  us  be  rancour,  and  every  paffion,  while  we 
make  to  our  fellow  citizens  a  candid  expofition  of  our  view  of 
the  origin  of  the  diffenfions  that  now  exift  in  this  ftate,  of  thofe 
efiential  principles  of  government,  in  which  the  theories  of  lead- 
ing federalifts  differ  from  thofe  of  the  republicans,  and  of  the 
cppoflng  fyftems  of  public  meafures  advocated  and  purfued  by 
•-:-*>  pa-ue$  refpe<fUyely.  If  is  the  courfe  of,  this  expofiuoa  we 


fhall  find  ourfelves  under  the  neceflity  of  animadverting  with  fe- 
verity  on  the  conduct  and  views  of  men  oppofed  to  us,  Jet  it  not 
be  faid  that  we  have  violated  the  rule  we  have  prefci  ibed  to  our- 
felves,  that  we  permit  paflion  to  make  us  unjuft  !  No,  we  will 
endeavor  to  be  flridly  jirft,  and  as  we  will  fet  down  nought  in 
malice,  fo  we  will  extenuate  nothing.  We  will  fpeak  to  our 
fellow  citizens  with  that  plainnefs  which  belongs  to  truth.  In 
an  honeft  and  ardent  purfuit  of  thofe  ineftimable  objefts,  public 
peace  and  liberty,  we  will  not  paufe  to  calculate  the  importance 
to  ourfelves  individually  of  the  love  or  the  hatred  of  the  enemies 
of  public  peace  and  liberty. 

Hiftory  teaches  us  thefe  interefting  fac~b,  that  from  the  remo- 
teft  ages  a  few  men  in  every  nation  have  had  the  addrefs  to  make 
the  multitude  their  property,  that  the  only  intelligible  diftinc- 
tions  that  have  been  known  among  men  have  been  thofe  of  maf- 
ter  and  {lave  ;  that  the  dark  annals  of  defpotifm  have  been  inter- 
rupted and  enlightened  by  fome  gleams  of  liberty,  by  fome  no- 
ble ftruggles  of  opprefled  man  to  break  his  chains,  and  to  aflume 
that  dignified  flation  from  which  he  had  long  been  degraded  ; 
that  the  fuccefs  of  thefe  druggies  has  ever  been  of  fhort  duration  ; 
that  though  man  has  been  found  invincible  when  ftruggling  for 
his  liberty,  yet  that  he  has  never  been  found  competent  to  its 
protection  ;  but  that  ambition  and  cunning  have  always  fucceed* 
ed,  fooner  or  later,  in  perfuading  the  fimple,  unfufpe&ing  fons 
of  freedom  to  aiiift  in  riveting  their  chains  anew;  that  thofe 
(hoit  periods  of  liberty  have  indeed  exhibited  illuftrious  fam- 
ples  of  genius,  of  energy  and  of  virtue,  to  which  degraded  and 
enflaved  man  can  never  attain  ;  but  that  in  the  long,  dark  night 
of  defpotifm,  thefe,  like  the  bright  corufcations  of  a  meteor, 
have  only  fei  ved  to  give  a  more  forcible  perception  of  the  deep 
gloom  that  was  fpread  over  the  world. 

From  thefe  fa&s,  which  are  controverted  by  none,  men  have 
deduced  various  theories,  conformed  to  their  various  wimes. — 
The  lovers  of  liberty,  the  true  friends  of  man  have,  in  every 
cafe,  feen  freedom  fubverted  by  circumftances  peculiar  to  each 
refpeftive  experiment.  They  have  feen  nothing  to  difcourage 
new  experiments.  They  perceive  in  the  progrefs  that  fociety 
has  made  and  is  ftill  making  in  knowledge,  in  every  intellectual 
improvement,  a  fure  a  certain  prefage  of  the  future  univerfal 
triumph  of  truth  and  of  liberty.  On  the  contrary,  the  enemies 
of  liberty,  men  of  uncontrolable  ambition  and  cupidity,  fay,  that 
the  experience  of  pad  ages  demonftrates  that  the  mafs  of  man- 
kind ia  every  nation  are,  and,  from  the  very  nature  of  man,  mud 
forever  remain  incompetent  to  protect  and  perpetuate  their  liber- 
ties \vhen  acquired  ;  that  their  ignorance  and  their  vices  in- 
capacitate them  for  felf  government — that  the  ignorant  multi- 
tude are  deftined  forever  to  be  governed  by  the  difcerning  few, 
whatever  may  be  the  form  of  that  government — and  that  there- 
fore all  that  is  to  be  fought,  or  hoped,  from  the  inftitutions  of 
fociety  is,  that  they  may  be  fo  contrived  as  to  mitigate,  and 
render  as  mild  as  poffible,  that  vaffalage  to  which,  they  fay, 
God  has,  by  an  irreverfable  decree,  deftined  the  human  race. 
Falfe  !  Foolifh  !  Impious  theory  !  They  feek  to  deprive  their 
fellow-men  of  tUeir  deareft  rights,  of  all  that  gives,  value  to  life, 


[     3     ] 

cf  all  that  gives  to  man  a  valuable  pre-eminence  above  the  brutes, 
and  juftify  themfelves  by  the  raoft  cruel,  the  moft  degrading  of 
calumnies  ;  by  averting  in  fhort,  that  the  Divinity  has  given  to 
man  no  valuable  pre-eminence  above  the  brutes. 

Happy  would  it  have  been  for  us  if  khis  monftrous  theory- 
had  been  confined  to  that  country  which  gave  it  birth.  In 
Europe,  as  the  multitude  have  been  compelled  to  perform  the 
part  of  beafts  of  burden,  there  it  feems  almoft  innocent  to  fpeak. 
of  them  as  fueh.  Here  in  America,  one  would  have  thought  that 
difcretion,  if  not  a  fenfe  of  juftice,  might  have  protected  us 
from  the  infult.  But  inordinate  ambition  is  the  growth  of  all 
countries,  and  in  all  countries  it  juftifies  its  depredations  by 
fimilar  pretexts. 

No  fooner  was  that  war  finifhed  which  fevered  thefe  Ameri- 
can States  from  the  Britim  empire,  than  ambition  marked  them; 
for  her  own,  and  commenced  her  fecret  machinations.  We 
v/ill  pafs  in  filence  the  few  years  that  preceded  the  birth  of  our 
prefent  federal  conftitution,  becaufe  during  that  period  the  ope- 
rations of  faction  were  unorganized  and  defultory  ;  but  no- 
fooner  was  a  convention  of  the  States  propofed  in  order  to  revife 
the  federal  compact  than  they  became  both  fyilematic  and  aftive. 
You  need  not  be  told  fellow- citizens,  that  at  this  period,  and 
for  the  avowed  purpofe  of  influencing  the  deliberations  of  the 
propofed  convention,  Mr.  Adams,  our  late  Prefident,  wrote 
three  volumes  on  the  fubject  of  government,  the  whole  fcope 
and  object  of  which  writings  was  to  prove  that  a  government 
conftituted  precifely  on  the  principles  of  that  of  Great  Britain, 
and  no  other,  is  perfeftly  adapted  to  the  happinefs  and  protec- 
tion of  men  in  all  countries,  and  in  all  ftages  of  fociety — and 
that  as  far  as  thofe  who  were  to  form  a  government  for  us  mould 
deviate  from  the  true  principles  of  the  Britim  government,  fa 
far  would  they  deviate  from  wifdom  and  from  nature. 

The  convention  when  aflembled  was  found  to  confift  of  dif- 
cordant  materials,  fome  ardent  friends  of  the  elective  princi- 
ple throughout  the  legiilative  and  executive  departments  of  the 
government,  fome  open,  fome  covert  friends  of  the  hereditary 
principle  in  the  executive,  and  in  one  branch  of  the  legifktive 
departments.  Here  it  was  that  Alexander  Hamilton  ftrenu- 
oufly  advocated  an  annihilation  of  the  date  governments,  an 
executive  and  fenate  elected  for  life.  How  eafy  !  how  very 
natural  would  be  the  tranfition  from  Hamilton's  governor  and 
fenate,  or  to  ufe  European  names,  King  and  Nobles  for  life,  to 
Adams'  hereditary  king  and  nobles  !  The  conftitution,  when 
formed,  was  declared  by  the  convention  that  formed  it,  to  be 
"  the  refult  of  a  fpirit  of  mutual  conceflion."  Probably  no  (ingle 
member  of  the  convention  believed  it  to  be  free  from  defects. 
In  one  point  all  parties  agreed,  to  wit,  that  a  ftronger  bond  of 
union  ihan  had  hitherto  bound  the  ftates  together  was  abfolutely 
ceceflary  to  their  peace,  to  their  fafety,  perhaps  to  their  very 
exiftence.  The  republicans  were  in  general  well  pleafed  with 
the  conftitution.  They  confided  in  the  good  fenfe  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  they  believed  that  if  what  appeared  to  them  imperfec- 
tions mould  on  experiment  be  found  to  be  really  fuch,  they 
would  in  the  manner  provided  by  the  inflrument  itfelf  be  cor- 


refted.  Some  indeed,  not  lefs  honeft,  not  lefs  zealous  for  a. 
firm  union  of  the  ftates,  but  more  jealous  than  their  brethren* 
thought  they  faw  in  the  inftrument  unneceffary  facilities  to  cor- 
ruption and  ufurpation,  and  on  that  account  ultimately  oppofed 
its  adoption.  This  procured  for  them,  and  for  the  republican 
party,  with  which  they  in  the  fubfequent  ftruggles  co-operated, 
and  to  which  they  in  troth  belonged,  the  name  of  antifederalifts. 

It  muft  be  manifeft  to  every  reflecting  mind,  that  men,  who 
like  Mr.  Adams,  believed  the  Britifh  to  be  the  ftandard  of  good 
governments,  muft  have  regarded  our  federal  conftitution  as  it 
came  from  the  hands  of  the  convention  with  difapprobation  and 
contempt.  Annihilation  of  the  ftate  governments,  and  a  com- 
bination of  the  ftates  under  one  government  muft  have 
been  a  neceflary  part  of  the  plan  of  the  monarchifts,  and  ac- 
cordingly, as  has  already  been  obferved,  the  meafure  was  brought 
forward  in  the  convention  by  Mr.  Hamilton.  Notwithftanding 
this  atte-mpt  was  defeated,  and  although  the  conftitution  was 
deftitute  of  almoft  every  thing  which  the  monarchifts  confider- 
ed  as  valuable  in  fubftance,  yet  they  unanimoufly  fubfcribed  it  ; 
becaufe  it  was  all  that  at  that  time  could  be  obtained,  becaufe 
though  deficient  in  fubftance,  in  form  it  was  correct ;  and  be- 
caufe  they  hoped  that,  as  it  had  the  form,  they  fliould  ba  able 
by  a  fkillful  management  of  its  powers,  by  an  artful  direction 
and  management  of  private  interefts  already  within  its  reach* 
and  of  fuch  as  from  time  to  time  it  would  be  poffible  under 
various  pretexts  to  create,  they  mould  be  able  to  give  it  the  fub- 
fiance  of  their  great  model,  the  Britifh  government. 

The  moment  that  the  new  government  was  organized,  the 
monarchifts,  arrogating  to  themfelves  the  name  of  federalists, 
commenced  a  lyftematic  attack  on  every  republican  principle  in 
the  conftitution,  endeavoring  to  fap  one  after  another,  every 
bulwark  creeled  for  the  protection  of  the  independence  of  the 
(rate  governments,  and  of  the  fupremacy.  of  the  whole  people 
This  attack  called  forth  a  correfpondent  vigilance  and  vigor  on 
the  part  of  the  republicans  in  the  defence  of  every  thing  which 
in  a  government  they  confidered  of  value.  Thus  a  warfare  of 
principles  commenced  which  has  not  yet  fubfided. 

Here  then,  fellow- citizens,  you  have  a  faithful  exhibition  of 
our  view  of  the  origin  of  the  diflenfions  which  difturb  the  tran- 
€[uility  not  only  of  this  ftate,  but  of  the  United  States,  and 
of  thofe  effential  principles  of  government  in  which  the  theories 
of  leading  federalifts  differ  from  thofe  of  republicans.  We 
will  fay  fomething  of  the  oppofing  fyftems  of  public  meafures 
advocated  and  purfued  by  the  parties  refpeftively.  Permit  us, 
however,  to  paufe  here  and  make  a  remark  which  is  faggefted 
by  what  has  already  been  faid.  Man  is  always  backward  to 
acknowledge  himfeif  in  an  error,  he  is  too  apt  to  confider  it  a 
difhonor  to  him  to  have  been  deceived,  this  induces  him  to 
perfevere  in  his  error  until  he  meets  with  evidence  altogether 
irrefiftible.  Many  an  honeft  fincere  republican  has  coottantly 
given  his  voice  for  federalifts,  believing  them  to  be  as  honeftly 
and  as  fincerely  republican  as  himfeif.  Sudi  men  will  not  eafily 
be  perfuaded  that,  they  have  been  betrayed  by  thofe  in  whom 
they  have  confided  ;  bhat  they  have  given  their  fupport  to  a 
fyftem  which  is'  their  abhorrence. 


r  s  3 

It  will  be  difficult  to  convince  fuch  republicans,  that  their 
friends,  the  leading  federalists  with  whom  they  are  acquainted,  can 
be  advocates  for  the  fyftems  of  Mr.  Adams  or  Mr.  Hamilton. 
We  folicit  thofe  men  who  fTmll  entertain  doubts  like  thefe,  to> 
reflect  that  Mr.  Adams'  books  were  published  for  the  exprel-s 
purpofe  that  has  already. been  ftated,  and  were  read  by  the  lead- 
ing men  of  both  parties  j  his  principles  were,  therefore,  eavly 
and  univerfally  understood — that  Hamilton's  proportion  far 
the  deftruction  of  the  ft  ate  governmencs,  and  for  the  election  of 
a  chief  magistrate  and  fenators/^r  life,  -was  made  in  the  face  of 
the  convention  affembled  from  every  part  of  the  union.  To 
fuppofe  then  that  the  opinions  of  thefe  men  are  unknown  to 
leading  federalists  would  be  mere  idiocy.  Both  Mr.  Adams 
and  Hamilton  are  known  by  leading  federalifts  to  be  monar- 
chists in  principle,  and  of  courfe  to  be  enemies  to  our  federal 
constitution.  Mr.  Adams  has,  on  account  of  his  principles 
been  raifed  to  the  chief  magiftracy,  and  Mr.  Hamilton  is,  to 
this  day,  the  favorite  chief  of  his  party.  Would  republicans, 
would  thofe  who  deteft  kingly,  or  any  other  hereditary  govern- 
ments, exalt  to  the  chief  magiftracy  o-f  a  government  like  ours, 
an  avowed  royalifl:  ?  Such  conduct  would  be  the,  wildeit  pliren- 
Zy.  No,  the  men,  who  in  faS  procured  the  eleftion  of  Mr. 
Adams  tvere  royal'ifis.  The  men  <who  are  now  the  political  friends 
ef  Mr,  Hamilton  are  royalifts. 

Though  the  royalifts,  or  federalifts,  as  they  called  themfelves, 
commenced  their  operations  with  the  commencement  of  the 
government,  yet  during  the  administration  of  Wamington  their 
march  though  Steady  was  cautious.  That  inflexible  patriot, 
always  eSteemed  by  the  republicans,  was  always  hated  by  the 
federalifts,  becaufe  he  was  known  to  be  in  favor  of  the  popular 
elective  fyStem.  They  knew  his  integrity  to  be  uncorruptible, 
to  him,  therefore,  it  is  not  probable  that  their  projects  were 
explained,  but  his  perfonal  friendship  for,  and  confidence  in 
fbme  of  the  party  whom  either  accident  or  defign  had  placed 
near  him,  enabled  them,  in  fome  inftances  to  circumvent  him,, 
to  betray  hitn  into  meafures  plaufible  indeed,  but  which  in  their 
tendencies  were  indifputably  oppofite  to  the  whole  tenor  of  his 
declarations,  and  to  the  principles  he  avowed.  Such  inftances 
however  were  rare,  for  we  do  not  accufe  him  of  a  mental  ap- 
probation of  anti-republican  legifktive  meafures,  merely  be- 
caufe he  did  not  confider  it  expedient  to  oppofe  to  them  his 
constitutional  veto. 

The  day  when  this  Great  Man  retired  from  the  government 
was  for  federalifm  a  day  of  triumph.  Having  by  their  addrefs,. 
for  we  will  make  ufe  of  a  mild  epithet,  procured  for  themfelves 
a  chief  on  whofe  co-operation  they  might  rely,  they  feemed  de- 
termined to  redeem  the  time  they  had  loft  under  his  predecefTor. 
Having  obtained  a  diftinct  majority  in  the  legislature,  having 
early  feized  on  the  judiciary,  they  were  become  complete  maf- 
ters  of  the  field.  All  the  powers  of  the  government  were  in 
their  hands,  and  they  were  al!  exerted  to  proftrate  every  obfta- 
cle  to  the  eftablimment  of  their  favorite  fyftcm.  Caution  was 
at  an  end,  henceforward  their  attacks  on  tlve  constitution,  our 
citadel  of  liberty,  were  open,  mceffant,  alarming.  To. trace 


[     6     I 

them  in  all  their  movements  of  hoftility,  would  be  to  write  a 
hiftory  of  the  meafures  of  the  government.  Few  indeed  were 
the  meafures  that  did  not  either  diredlly  or  indire&ly  tend  to  ad- 
vance  this  great  plan  of  federalifm  ;  but  whatever  might  be  the 
mode  in  which  they  v/ere  to  operate,  one  diftinguiming  princi- 
ple pervades  the  whole,  they  are  all,  excepting  their  meafures 
of  terror,  calculated  to  create  and  to  extend  an  individual,  a 
particular  interest,  feparate  and  diftind  from  the  general  inter- 
eft  of  the  community,  and  to  engraft  that  particular  intereft  on 
their  fyftem  in  fuch  a  manner  as  that  it  mould  be  underitood 
that  they  were  to  Hand  or  fall  together. 

The  limits  of  an  addrefs  will  admit  of  little  more  than  to 
name  the  moft  prominent  of  the  meafures  that  were  directed 
againit  the  popular,  the  republican  fyftem,  in  fliort,  againft  liber- 
ty. In  the  front  rank  appears  the  funding  fyftem,  a  meafurc 
manifeftJy  unjuft,  in  as  much  as  the  real  creditor  of  the  public 
was  thereby  compelled  to  contribute  to  pay  the  whole  amount 
of  the  very  debt,  which  in  reafon  and  juftice  was  ftill  due  to 
himfelf,  to  the  gambling  fpeculator,  who,  taking  advantage  of 
his  neceffities,  had  purchafed  the  paper  on  which  was  recorded 
the  evidence  of  that  debt,  at  one  eighth  part  of  the  amount  of 
the  debt.  The  injuftice  of  the  aft  will  be  forgotten.  The 
foldier  to  whom  we  were  indebted  for  our  liberty,  he  who  had 
purchafed  it  for  us  at  the  price  of  his  health,  and  of  his  blood, 
he,  it  is  true,  has  been  deprived  of  the  pittance  that  had  been 
promifed  him,  and  the  price  of  his  blood  has  been  paid  to 
his  proud  opprefibr  ;  but  the  foldier  is  poor,  and  himfelf  and 
his  injuries  are  forgotten  ;  but  the  effects  of  the  meafure  on  the 
politics  of  our  country  will  long  be  remembered. 

The  debts  of  the  United  States,  at  the  time  they  were  fund- 
ed, were  nearly  as  follows  : — The  whole  debt  due  originally  to 
foreigners,  about  twelve  millions  of  dollars.  The  domeftic 
debt  due  originally  to  our  own  citizens  of  various  defcriptions-, 
forty  millions  of  dollars,  but  worth  at  the  market  price  not 
more  than  five ;  but  Jet  it  be  eftimated  at  thirteen  millions  of 
dollars.  The  debts  of  the  feveral  ftates  for  which  the  creditors 
had  no  pretence  of  claim  againft  the  United  States.,  and  which, 
therefore,  mould  not  be  included  in  the  eftimate  of  the  debts, 
really  due  from  the  United  States,  but  which  were  afTurned  by 
the  United  States  on  lhallow  and  frivolous  pretences,  amount- 
ed to  the  very  ferious  fum  of  eighteen  millions  of  dollars.  If 
we  eftimate  the  balances  due  to  thofe  ftates  which  had  perform- 
ed more  than  their  proportion  in  our  revolutionary  labors,  at 
five  millions  of  dollars  which  cannot  be  far  from  the  truth,  it 
will  be  found  that  the  whole  debt  of  the  United  States  at  the 
time  the  law  for  funding  it  was  ena<fted,  in  truth  and  in  jaftice, 
amounted  to  no  more  than  thirty  millions  of  dollars,  at  leaft  no 
more  than  that  fum  was  due  to  thofe  who  by  that  law  were 
recognized  as  creditors.  But  the  debt  when  funded  amountea 
to  eighty  millions  of  dollars.  By  this  fingle  operation  then  s 
capital  to  the  enormous  amount  of  fifty  millions  of  dollars  wad 
created  out  of  nothing,  and  what  was  worfe,  if  worfe  could 
be  than  the  injuftice  of  the  meafure,  the  proprietors  of  this 
vaft  wealth  underftood that  they  owed  it  to  federalifm,  (forth? 


[     7     ] 

rneafure  had  been  ftrenuoufly  oppofed  by  the  republicans)  and 
they  were  taught  to  believe  that  the  exiftence  of  their  wealth 
depended  on  the  fuccefs  of  that  fyftem  which  had  created  it. 

Thus  the  federal  leaders  in  one  day,  and  by  a  fingle  ma- 
neuvre,  inlifted  under  their  banners,  not  indeed  an  army  of 
poor  foldiers,  drefled  in  uniform,  with  muflcets  in  their  hands, 
prepared  blindly  to  perform  the  work  of  defolation  and  mur- 
der ;  but  an  army  much  more  to  be  dreaded  of  rich  and  confe- 
quently  of  influential  men,  difperfed  over  the  union,  who  owed 
all  their  wealth  and  all  their  influence  to  their  chiefs,  and  Hood 
pledged  blindly  to  fupport  them  in  all  their  attacks  on  the  prin- 
ciples of  liberty. 

While  thefe  things  were  atchieving  by  the  legislature  on  one 
quarter,  on  another  the  judiciary  were  making  a  bold  and  de- 
cifive  afTault.  A  fuit  had  been  commenced  againft  one  of  the 
ftates,  and  the  fupreme  court  of  the  United  States  folemnly 
decided  that  an  independent  ftate  was  fubject  to,  be  impleaded 
before  them,  and  amenable  to  their  orders,  and  liable  of 
courfe  to  be  puniflied  for  contempt,  or  to  have  execution 
awarded  againft  them.  This  was  a  fituation  for  fovereignty 
which  was  univerfally  felt  to  be  rather  ludicrous.  It  was  doubt- 
lefs  a  noble  ftride  towards  the  accomplishment  of  Mr.  Hamil- 
ton's project  of  anihilating  the  ftate  governments.  Unfortunate- 
ly for  federalifm  the  ftate  fovereignties  did  not  choofe  to  be  put 
on  a  footing  with  a  corporation  for  the  fupport  of  a  toll  bridge  ; 
they  were  not  yet  fufficiently  federal  for  that  ;  they  therefore 
united  in  a  conftitutional  provifion  to  check  this  inroad  of  the 
judiciary. 

The  ftruggles  of  the  French  nation  to  recover  its  long  loft 
rights,  excited  the  fympathy  of  the  friends  of  liberty  in  this 
country  ;  on  the  contrary,  they  were  objects  of  regret  and  ter- 
ror to  the  federalifts.  The  French  revolution  became  over- 
clouded ;  it  was  difgraced  by  violence  and  cruelty  ;  it  was 
ftained  with  innocent  blood.  The  republicans  in  America,  who 
cherifbed  the  pure  and  juft  principles  of  liberty  only,  have  been 
to  this  day  accufed  of  abetting  all  the  horrible  deeds  of  the  men 
who  in  France  difgraced  the  name  of  liberty,  a  mod  foul  calum- 
ny, and  known  to  be  fuch  by  thofe  who  uttered  it.  Nay,  liber- 
ty itfelf  was  ftigmatized.  The  horrors  of  the  French  revolu- 
tion were  faid  to  be  the  certain  fruits  of  democracy,  that  is,  of 
a  government  entirely  under  the  control  of  the  people. 

To  enable  federalifts  to  accomplifh  in  our  government  the  re- 
volution which  they  meditated,  it  was  neceflary  to  increafe  as 
far  as  poffible  the  number  of  influential  men  who  mould  be  in- 
terefted  in  the  fupport  of  their  meafures.  To  degrade  and  to 
bring  into  contempt  republican  principles,  and  as,  after  all,  they 
could  not  hope  that  an  actual  change  in  our  government  to  the 
monarchical,  hereditary  form,  would  be  permitted  without  op- 
pofition,  an  army  was  indifpenfible  to  overwhelm  refiftance. — 
This  is  the  key  that  unlocks,  and  places  fairly  before  our  eyes, 
all  their  fecret  councils  ;  by  this  we  are  enabled  to  difcern  the 
confiftency  «f  all  their  meafures.  It  was  to  accomplifh  this  re- 
volution that  the  funding  fyftem  was  projected  and  carried  into 
fffect ;  that  the  fovereignty  of  the  ftates  was  attacked  ;  that  the 


E.  s    1 

public  money  has  been  wailed  with  a  profufion  bordering  on 
roadnefs  ;  that  we  have  engaged  in  the  intiigues  of  foreign 
countries,  in  them  to  find  a  pretext  for  war,  for  armies,  for 
fleets,  for  an  increafe  of  expence,  for  new  taxes,  for  loans  of 
money  at  an  unheard  of  rate  of  intereft. 

Thefe  were  the  meafures  of  federalifm,  and  by  them  its  in- 
terefts  were  advanced  precifely  in  proportion  to  the  increafe  of 
the  public  burthens.  We  have  feen  hofts  of  public  creditors, 
of  tax-gatherers,  of  officers,  civil  and  military,  all  fold  to  the 
caufe  of  federalifm,  pledged  to  the  overthrow  of  republicanifm. 
We  have  feen  the  plaineft,  the  mod  eftimable  of  the  rights  of 
man  held  up  to  public  fcorn  in  publications  favored  and  fup- 
ported  by  the  officers  of  the  government  and  their  adherents. 
Foreigners  have  been  encouraged  to  erect  preffes  in  the  midft  of 
a  republican  people,  for  the  purpofe  of  ridiculing  and  execrat- 
ing every  principle  of  republicanifm,  and  the  American  preffes 
were  rr.oft  of  them  corrupted  and  perverted  to  the  fame  abomin- 
able purpofe.  If  a  printer  was  found  honed:  enough  to  refift 
{"eduction  and  bribes,  and  bold  enough  to  warn  the  people  of 
their  danger,  cruel,  arbitrary  and  unconftuutional  laws  were 
enacted,  under  colour  of  which  he  was  feized,  {tripped  of  his 
property,  and  condemned  to  laisguifii  in  prifoo. 

Againft  the  men  who  remained  faithful  to  the  caufe  of  liberty, 
and  whofe  talents  made  them  objects  of  dread  to  the  feder- 
ajifts,  a  mode  of  warfare  cruel  and  bafe  beyond  example  was 
adopted.  In  order  to  deftroy  their  influence  with  their  fellow 
citizens  and  to  deprive  them  of  the  power  of  making  a  fuccefsful 
opposition  to  federalifm,  calumnies  without  number,  and  of 
matchlefs  atrofity,  were  invented  and  circulated  with  a  dili- 
gence that  demonrtrated  it  to  be  the  effect  of  concert.  To 
them  all  without  exception  was  imputed  every  wickednefs  that 
has  been  known  to  blacken  the  heart  of  man  ;  they  were  fpoken 
of  not  as  men,  but  as  demons  :  a  great  effort  was  made  to  over- 
whelm them  with  infamy,  to  fet  a  mark  in  their  foreheads>  and 
to  drive  them  from  the  face  and  fociety  of  men.  In  fome  parts 
of  the  union,  and  particularly  in  this  {late,  the  attempt  was 
attended  with  too  much  fuccefs.  Here  the  republican,  though 
his  life  were  without  blemifh,  found  himfelf  at  once  ftripped  of 
re^uu.tion  and  the  esteem  of  men,  and  he  was  compelled  with 
pain  to  remark  a  majority  of  that  very  people  whole  advo* 
cate  and  defender  he  was,  uniting  with  his  and  their  enemies  in 
their  attempts  to  degrade  and  deftroy  him.  This  was  indeed 
and  in  truth  the  reign  of  terror, 

Federalilm  was  every  where  triumphant ;  its  infolence  was 
accordingly  unbounded.  The  avaricious  and  the  ambitious, 
the  men  of  fplendid  fortunes,  and  of  fplendid  talents,  thofe  in 
ijiort  who,  under  the  new  order  of  things,  were  to  be  nobles 
and  mailers,  were,  with  few  exceptions,  efpecially  in  the  north- 
ern ftates,  united  in  one  firm,  powerful  phalanx,  under  its  ban- 
ners. The  people  were  found  incapable  of,  or  indifpofed  to 
refinance.  They  either  cowtred  down  through  fear,  or  they 
joined  the  enemies  of  their  liberties,  and  applauded  the  meafures 
calculated  to  enthral  them.  The  firm  and  intrepid  republicans 
were  excluded  from  all  participation  in  the  general  or  Hate  go- 


[     9     ] 

•vernments — they  were  every  where  traduced,  profcribed,  per- 
fecuted.  In  fhort,  the  fair  fabric  of  our  freedom,  vvhofe  walls 
Mrere  cemented  by  the  beft  blood  of  our  nation — that  afylum, 
that  laft  hope  of  the  ojppreffcd  race  of  man,  feemed  ready  to 
fail  in  ruins. 

War,  to  draw  the  attention  of  the  people  from  domeftic  en- 
croachment to  foreign  danger — and  an  army  to  execute  whate- 
ver mould  be  commanded,  feemed  all  that  was  wanting,  and 
thefe  were  abfolutely  indifpenfible,  in  order  to  open  the  laft  fcene 
of  the  drama,  in  order  to  exhibit  t!ie  bloody  cataftrophe.  To 
obtain  thefe,  the  federaltfts,  with  much  art,  fomented  a  quarrel 
with  the  French  nation,  had  fucceeded  fo  far  as  to  produce  an 
open  rupture  ;  and  under  the  pretext  of  danger  of  an  invafion, 
•which  every  man  in  the  country  of  common  fenfe  and  of  common 
information  knew  to  be  impoflible,  they  procured  an  army  to  be 
placed  at  their  difpofal.  This  was  to  men  of  virtue  and. intelli- 
gence a  moment  of  awful  expectation,  of  deep,  of  unfpeakable 
anxiety.  They  knew  that  our  deftinies  were  proceeding  rapidly 
to  a  crifis,  that  we  were  playing  for  the  laft  (take  left  to  the  hu- 
man race,  and  that  the  game  was  nearly  ended.  The  moment, 
•was  at  hand  that  was  to  decide  the  queftion,  whether  man  was 
ever  to  emerge  from  the  ftate  of  depreffion  and  vafTalage  iu 
which,  from  the  beginning  of  time,  he  had  been  cruelly  held, 
or  was  to  fink  again,  without  future  hope,  into  the  dark 
abyfs.  The  profufion  with  which  the  public  money  was  fquan- 
dered,  and  which  could  not  be  concealed  from  the  public  eye, 
the  burthens  that  rapidly  accumulated  on  the  people,  the  land 
tax,  and  the  loan  of  money  at  an  unexampled  intereft,  to  fup- 
ply  that  profufion  ;  an  army,  always  an  object  of  jealoufy  to 
freemen,  and  in  this  inftance  raifed  on  pretexts  obvioufly  infin- 
cere,  and  which  rendered  its  destination  fufpicious, — thefe  things 
excited  in  the  public  mind  diftruft  and  eequiry. — This  was  a 
happy  prefage. — The  enlightend  patriots  hoped  that  the  flum- 
ber  of  the  people  was  nearly  at  an  end — that  they  would  fooa 
awake Thank  heaven,  they  did  awake,  and  the  proud  edi- 
fice of  federalifm,  that  caftle  of  defpair,  was  laid  fmoaking  ia 
the  dud. 

A  fingle  circumftance,  fellow  citizens,  which  preceded  the 
downfal  of  federalifm,  and  which  was  confidered  at  the  time, 
by  the  intelligent  men  of  both  parties,  as  the  harbinger  of  that 
event,  we  will  recal  to  your  recollections,  principally  beciufe, 
in  our  opinions,  it  demonstrates  the  truth  of  what  we  have  ta- 
ken for  granted,  that  the  war  was  confidered  as  necefTary  to  the 
accomplishment  of  federal  projects  on  our  own  government,  and 
that  the  army  was  raifed,  not  to  repel  French  invafion,  but  to 
crufh  republicanifm.  The  French  government  weie  inviting 
ours  to  meet  them  on  honorable  terms  for  the  purpofe  of  endea- 
voring to  put  an  end,  by  treaty,  to  all'fu  Drifting  differences  ; 
Mr.  Adams  called  a  council  of  thofe  federalists  in  whom  he 
placed  moft  confidence,  in  order  to  determine  whether  the  in- 
vitation fhould  be  accepted  or  rejected.  It  is  well  known  tha: 
the  council  were  divided  in  opinion  ;  that  fome,  alarmed  at  the 
fymptomsofa  gathering  ftorm  at  home,  and  too  timid  to  em- 
bark in  an  enterprise  fo  hazardous  as  that  of  attempting  to  ftifir: 


[10     ] 

and  overwhelm  the  public  voice  by  force,  were  for  peace,  and 
for  waiting  for  a  more  aufpicious  time  for  the  accomplishment 
of  their  plans  } — that  others  more  daring  were  for  rejecting  all 
overtures  from  France,  and  boldly  meeting  the  mock  of  con- 
flicting principles  at  home  ;  they  knew  that  if  ambafladors  were 
appointed  peace  would  be  the  confequence,  for  America  and 
France  had  no  hoftile,  no  conflicting  interefts  ;  that  the  necef- 
fary  confequence  of  peace  muft  be  a  difTolution  of  the  army  ; — 
in  fhort,  that  it  would  be  relinquifhing  the  ground  they  had 
gained.  Why  mould  they  fly  on  the  firft  appearance  of  thofe 
whom  they  expected  to  meet  and  whom  they  were  prepared  to 
encounter,  efpecially  as  henceforward  it  was  probable  that  the 
ftrength  of  the  enemy  would  be  augmenting  whilfl  theirs  would 
be  diminifhing  ? 

Revolutions  are  never  accomplished  without  hazard.  The 
boldeSt  meafures  are  commonly  the  moft  fuccefsful.  Why  then 
mould  they  wait  for  a  more  favorable  time  which  probably  would 
never  arrive  ?  To  relinquish  the  war  with  France  at  this  juncture 
would  be  a  cowardly  defertion  of  their  caufe  at  the  moment 
when  one  vigorous  exertion  would  probably  fecure  its  triumph. 
Thefe  were  the  counfels  of  fome  of  the  leading  federalists  pref- 
ent,  among  whom  it  is  faid  were  Hamilton  and  Pickering.  Do 
thefe  things  appear  incredible  to  you,  fellow  citizens  ?  Perhaps 
you  do  not  know  that  when  the  army  was  voted,  it  was  the  ad- 
vice of  Mr.  Hamilton  that  it  Should  amount  to  fifty  thowfand 
men.  Perhaps  you  have  forgotten  that  an  army  of  volunteers 
was  enliSted  in  every  part  of  the  Union,  the  officers  of  which 
were  appointed  by  the  executive  of  the  United  States,  and  was 
placed  at  the  difpofal  of  the  Prefident.  Perhaps  you  have  nev- 
er heard  that  the  Secretary  at  war  Mr.  McHenry  exprefsly 
recommended  it  to  officers  of  that  army  of  volunteers  to  encour- 
age the  inliftment  of  that  clajs  of  men  called  old  tones.  And 
yet  thefe  things  are  true,  and  they  deferve  your  folemn  confidera- 
tion.  In  the  council  however  caution  prevailed  ;  embaSTadors 
were  nominated,  and  you  cannot  have  forgotten  that,  from  that 
moment,  Mr.  Adams  was  execrated  by  almoft  every  leading 
federalist,  as  the  bafe  cowardly  betrayer  of  their  caufe.  Tes, 
to  relieve  the  nation  from  the  ditrrefs  of  a  war  exiting  without 
caufe,  and  without  object,  was  to  betray  federalifm. 

The  period  for  electing  a  Prefident  of  the  United  States  was 
-approaching,  the  federalists  were  difgufted  with  Mr.  Adams, 
but  dared  not  change  their  ground  in  the  face  of  a  formidable 
enemy,  tliey  determined  therefore  once  more  to  adhere  to  him. 
The  republican  fpirit  became  roufed  and  active.  In  the  (tate  of 
New- York  the  period  for  electing  the  members  of  their  legifla- 
ture,  which  was  to  appoint  the  electors  of  the  future  Prefident, 
arrived.  So  nearly  were  the  parties  now  balanced  in  the  un- 
ion, that  it  was  calculated  the  (late  of  New  York  would  prob- 
ably turn  the  fcale  ;  it  was  alfo  reduced  nearly  to  a  certainty 
that,  that  party  would  preponderate  in  thelegiflature  of  the 
ftate  which  fliould  carry  the  ele^lions  in  the  city  of  New- 
York.  To  that  city  every  eye  was  anxioufly  turned.  The  repub- 
licans fucceeded,  and  from  that  moment  the  federal  caufe  v:**- 
defpaired  of,  though  its  efforts  were  not  yet  at  an  end-  As  fooa  s* 


L   ii    3 

it  was  fairly  determined  that  the  republicans  had  gained  a  ma- 
jority in  the  legislature  of  New- York,  the  federalifts  in  Con- 
grefs  pafled  a  bill  for  difbanding  their  army,  now  become  ufelefs. 
Here  let  it  be  remembered,  fellow  citizens,  that  the  (late  of  omr 
affairs  with  France  were  at  this  time  precifely  in  the  fituation 
they  were  at  the  time  when  the  army  was  raifed  ;  for  fo  far  was 
the  controverfy  from  being  adjufted,  that  our  ambafladors  had 

not  in  fact  reached  the  French  territory But  the  profpect  of. 

employing  the  army  inthefervice,  for  which  it  was  raifed,  vanifh- 
ed,  and  to  deprive  the  republicans  of  the  credit  of  difbanding 
it  was  all  that  remained  in  the  power  of  federalifm  to  perform. 

Thefe  were  the  projects  and  thefe  the  deeds  of  federalifm  in 

the  days  of  its  power  ; Of  its  meafures  in  its  ftateof  depref- 

/lon,  and  of  thofe  of  the  republicans  fince  they  gained  the  afcend- 
ency,  we  will  draw  a  rapid  fketch  ; — the  uniformity  of  the  fcene 
precludes  a  lengthy  defcription. 

To  correct  the  diforders  in  our  government  occafioned  by  fe- 
deral mifrule,  was  the  firft  labor  of  republicans.  They  redu- 
ced the  army  and  navy  to  the  ftandard  of  our  real  wants  ;  they 
abolished  a  number  of  vexatious,  oppreffive,  and  unnecefTary 
taxes,  and  by  that  means  diibanded  a  hoft  of  tax-gatherers,  who 
were  fupported  at  the  public  expence  ;  they  introduced  the 
moft  rigorous  economy  into  every  department  cf  public  expend- 
iture. Though  they  are  ftill  convinced  that  the  public  debt 
was  funded  on  terms  flagrantly  unjuft,  yet  as  the  faith  of  the  na- 
tion was  pledged  by  thofe  who  had  a  right  to  pledge  it  on  thofe 
terms,  and  as  a  great  proportion  of  the  debt  is  now  in  the  hands 
of  men  who  were  not  parties  to  the  injuftice, — equity,  policy, 
every  good  principle  demands  a  rigorous,  a  punctual  payment  of 
the  debt,  on  the  terms  on  which  it  was  funded  ;  they  have  ac- 
cordingly, by  refcinding  every  unnecefTary  expence,  and  by  in- 
troducing a  new  degree  of  order  and  accuracy  into  the  depart- 
ment of  finance,  been  able  to  provide  for  the  regular  and  rapid 
difcharge  of  the  debt ;  and  there  is  no  reafon  to  doubt  that,  with 
the  adminiftratibn  of  our  affairs  in  fuch  hands,  a  few  years  will 
relieve  the  people  from  every  pecuniary  burden,  excepting  the 
light  and  neceflary  one  of  iupporting  the  current  expences  of  go- 
vernment. 

This  ftate  of  our  affairs,  when  we  confider that  many  burthen- 
fome  taxes  have  been  aboiifhed,  is  fo  far  beyond  what  the  moft 
fanguine  republican  hoped,  and  what  any  federalift  would  al- 
low to  b«  poflible,  that  it  appears  more  like  the  effect  of  magic  than 
of  fimple  frugality,  juftice  and  order.  Abroad  our  national  char- 
acter is  as  much  improved  as  the  (late  of  our  affairs  at  home.  It 
is  now  underftood  by  the  nations  of  Europe  that  our  government 
is  determined  to  ftand  aloof  from  all  their  cabals  and  contefts,  that 
while  it  devotes  itfelf  to  the  protection  and  profperity  of  its  own 
citizens,  it  will  with  juftice,  fmcerity  and  impartiality  cultivate 
the  friendfhip  of  all  nations.  Abroad  our  government  is  uni- 
verfally  refpected  for  its  wifdom,  and  efteemed  for  its  juftice. — 
This  is  no  exaggeration. 

Where  is  the  nation  that  has  a  complaint  againft  us  ?  Where 
the  government  that  does  not  fpeak  of  ours  with  refpecl  ?  But 


[      12     ] 

remember,  fellow  citizens,  tlut  every  meafure  that  has  condu- 
ced 10  this  happy  and  honorable  ftate  of  things  has  been  oppo- 
ied  by  the  whole  force  of  every  leading  federalift.  They  had 
predicted  that  debility,  diforder,  a  proftration  of  public  credit, 
expunging  the  public  debt,  anarchy,  civil  war,  and  a  confe- 
quent  deipotifm,  would  be  the  fruits  of  a  republican  fyftem 
when  reduced  to  practice. — Their  predictions  they  had  never 
tkemfelves  believed  ;  but  that  their  falfehood  fhould  be  detected 
by  the  people  was-  what  they  could  illy  brook.  They  forefaw 
that  if  the  wife,  juft,  and  economical  plans  of  the  republicans 
Should  be  carried  into  effect,  the  people,  feeling  the  benefits  of 
thofe  meafures,  would  be  convinced  of  the  folly,  opprefiion,  and 
profligacy  of  federalifm.  Their  oppolition  was  unavailing, 

their  rage  was  unbounded,  but  it  was  harmless  ; The  work 

of  reformation  proceeded  with  calmnefs  and  dignity — The  peo- 
ple were  made  happy,  and  they  felt  and  acknowledged  that 
they  were  fo. 

The  federalifts  had  awaked  fiom  their  dream  of  glory  ;  their 
Iting  and  their  nobility  had  paffed  away  ;  but  the  refentment 
the  rage  of  difappointment  remained.  They  could  no  longer, 
hope  to  govern,  but  they  might  thwart  and  embarrafs  their  ad- 
•verfaries,  and  this  was  fome  confolation.  War  is  the  moft  ter- 
rible fcourge  with  which  mankind  can  be  afflicted  ;  it  is  pecu- 
liarly to  be  deprecated  by  a  republican  government,  as  it  has  a 
powerful,  an  irrefiftable  tendency  to  demoralize  the  people,  to 
corrupt  and  undermine  their  principles  of  juftice  and  equality, 
and  their  habits  of  order  and  economy,  without  which  a  repub- 
lican government  cannot  exift.  War  then  was  to  be  defired  by 
the  federalifts,  becaufe  it  might  fo  far  deftrey  the  republican 
principles  and  habits  among  the  people,  as  to  give  ultimate  fuc- 
cefs  to  the  hereditary  fyftem  ;  and  becaufe,  at  any  rate,  when 
the  people  fhould  become  reftlefs  and  difcomented  under  the 
burthens  and  miferies  of  war,  as  they  certainly  .would,  whatever 
•might  be  its  caufe,  all  thofe  burthens,  and  a  1  thofe  miferies, 
the  people  might  by  artifice  and  mifreprefentation,  be  induced 
to  impute  to  the  wickednefs,  or  at  beft  to  the  folly  of  their  ru- 
lers, and  of  courfe  once  more  to  bring  thofe  who  were  oppofed 
to  them,  who  were  in  the  babit  of  imputing  to  them  knavery 
and  folly,  into  power.  It  is  on  principles  like  thefe  that  the 
federalifts  have  been  found  fupporting,  under  the  prefentadmi- 
niftration  thofe  meafures  only  that  have  provided  for  an  increafe 
of  our  military  or  naval  eftablifh  merit. 

It  was  from  motives  like  thefe  that,  taking  advantage  of  an 
a<fr  of  injustice  of  a  Spanifh  officer  at  New-Orleans,  which  af- 
fected in  a  high  degree  the  interefts  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
countries  watered  by  the  Ohio  and  Miffifippi,  and  of  the  ftrong 
refentment  excited  by  that  injuftice,  they  united  their  utmoft 
exertions  to  hurry  us  into  a  war  with  France  and  Spain.  The 
republicans,  though  determined  at  all  events  to  have  the  injury 
corrected,  prefered,  nay  the  very  people  who  were  fufFering  the 
injury  prefered  negociation  to  war,  knowing  that  in  cafe  nego- 
tiation fhould  fail,  the  evils  of  war  would  be  borne  with  the 
more  patience,  as  it  would  be  known  that  they  could  not  have 
been  avoided.  The  project  of  negociating  was  treated  by  all 


[      13     J 

the  fedevalifb  as  bafe,  cowardly,  and  degrading  to  our  nation- 
al character.  They  faid  it  demonftrated  the  extreme  pufillani- 
mity  of  our  chief  magiftrate  ;  that  it  was  a  fample  of  what  we 
were  to  expert  from  his  adminiftration  ;  that  the  abfurdity  of 
the  plan  was  equal  to  its  meannefs,  for  that  from  the  very  na- 
ture of  things,  it  was  demonstrable  to  any  man  of  common 
underftanding  that  it  could  not  poffibly  fucceed.  Negociation 
however  was  tried — its  fuccefs  you  know.  It  fecures  to  us  in- 
terefts of  ineftimable  value,  it  removes  far  from  us  the  raoft  pro- 
bable fource  of  future  wars  ;  and  it  opens  a  profpecl:  of  future 
•wealth  ar\d  power  almoft  exceeding  calculation  ; — And  yet  this 
treaty,  whofe  benefits  are  above  all  price,  is,  and  will  continue 
to  be  decried,  and  calumniated  by  a  fadlion,  who  have  loft  the 
hope,  who  have  almoft  loft  the  wifn,  of  accomplifhing  any 
thing  beyond  mere  gratuitous  mifchieL 

This  lingle  tranfaction,  fellow  citizens,  forces  on  the  mind 
conviction  relative  to  the  views  of  federadilts  more  clearly^ 
more  irrefiftibly,  than  could  be  done  by  volumes  of  argument. 
That  they  ftiove  to  plunge  the  country  into  a  war,  of  which  no 
man  could  ferioufly  pretend  to  foretel  the  duration  or  the  re- 
fult,  is  certain  ;  that  their  motive  was  not  what  they  pretended, 
a  regard  to  the  interefts  of  the  weitern  people,  is  alfb  certain, 
for  thofe  people  were  willing  and  defirous  to  wait  the  refult  of 
negociation  ;  and  befides  it  is  a  fa.cT:  well  known,  that  our 
northern  federalists  univerfally  hoJd  thefe  people  in  deteftation — 
for  the  truth  of  this  aflertion  we  appeal  to  you,  fellow  citizens. 
What  then  was  their  motive  ?  It  was  no  other,  it  could 
be  no  other,  than  the  gratification  of  perfonal  ambition,  or  party 
hatred.  To  thefe  objects  then,  the  men  to  whom  you  have 
confided  your  higheft  interefts,  your  property,  your  peace,  your 

liberties,  have  attempted  to  facrifice  thofe  high  interefts r- 

Thefe  are  the  men  who  demand  a  continuation  of  your  confi- 
dence !  !  ! Thefe  are  the  men  who  declare,  that  oppolition 

to  them  is  hoftility  to  order,  to  morals,  to  religion,  in  fhort,  is 
rank  Jacobinifm  !  ! 

Of  the  morals  of  men  who  have  bafely  betrRycd  the  truft 
that  has  been  repofed  in  them,  by  attempting  to  erect  a  mon- 
archal, ariftocratic  tyranny  on  the  ruins  of  liberty,  and  being 
defeated  in  that  flagicious  attempt,  have  ftrove  to  bring  war  and 
ruin  on  their  cou-ntry  for  the  gratification  of  the  moft  malignant, 
the  worft  of  paflicns,  we  will  fay  nothing  ;  but  to  their  reli- 
gion !  yes  to  the  religion  of  federalifm,  as  it  has  been  a  word  of 
magic  potency,  we  will  pay  one  moment's  attention. 

Until  the  acceffion  of  Mr.  Adams  to  the  Prefidency,  it  will 
be  remembered,  that  the  infidelity  of  republicans,  or  thepeculiar 
piety  of  federalists,  had  never  been  heard  of;  in  truth,  as  it  re- 
fpedts  the  proportionate  numbers  of  men  who  avowed,  or  enter- 
tained a  fpeculative  difbeiief  in  revelation,  the  parties  probably 
itood  on  nearly  equal  ground  ;  there  is,  we  apprehend,  no  rea- 
fon,  at  any  rate,  to  believe  that  the  number  was  proportionally 
greater  on  the  republican  fide  than  on  the  federal  ;  nor  can  it 
be  pretended  that  republican  chriilians  are  lefs  pious,  or  lefs 
fincere,  than  federal  chrifiian?  ;  indeed  this  never  was  the 
ground  of  the  diftir...  c 


t      14-     3 

The  influence  of  the  clergy,  wherever  there  is  a  clergy, 
over  the  minds  of  the  people,  muft  from  the  nature  of  their 
profeflion  be  very  great.  All  the  governments  of  Europe  have 
found  it  necefTiry  to  purchafe  this  influence  en  mafse,  or  rather 
to  incorporate  it  with  the  other  powers  of  the  government,  and 
to  admit  the  clergy  to  afhare,  proportioned  to  their  influence, 
in  the  common  plunder.  In  England,  whofe  government  is 
the  great  prototype  of  American  federalifm,  the  mare  of  the 
clergy  is  one  tenth  part  of  the  annual  produce  of  the  whole 
kingdom,  befides  the  dignity  and  privileges  of  nobility  to  a  num- 
ber of  the  clerical  chiefs  called  Archbifhops  and  Bifhops,  with 
many  other  dignified  grades  of  priefthood. 

When  the  federalifts  were  Searching  about  them  on  every 
fide  for  aids  and  auxiliaries  in  their  great  project  of  eftablifli- 
ing  monarchy,  it  would  have  been  marvelous  if  they  had  overlook, 
ed  or  neglected  an  ally  fo  obvious  and  fo  powerful  as  the  prieft- 
hood,  efpecially  as  it  was  fo  prominent  a  part  of  the  BritHh  ed- 
ifice which  they  were  copying.  They  were  not  guilty  of  this 
overfight.  We  do  not  fay,  for  we  do  not  know  that  any  ne- 
gociation  was  ever  entered  into  on  this  fubjedt,  a  perfect  under- 
Handing  might  be  obtained  without  it,  it  is  probable  therefore, 
that  in  form  it  never  took  place  ;  but  the  clergy  underftood 
that  the  federal  fyftem  was  the  Britifh  fyftem,  and  that  the  an- 
alogy was  intended  to  extend  to  the  clergy  was  foon  put  beyond 
a  doubt.  Mr.  Adams  in  his  inaugural  fpeech  announced  his 
intention  of  giving  countenance  to  men  of  religion.  This  was 
the  firft  open  promulgation  of  a  governmental,  a  federal  reli- 
gion. Henceforward  religion  became  the  fhiboleth  of  the 
party. 

If  we  were  difpofed  to  excite  your  laughter,  fellow-citizens, 
•we  have  only  to  name  to  you  men  living  amongft  you,  men 
known  to  you  all,  who  became  fuddenly  like  the  prieftefs  of 
Delphos,  filled  with  the  Divinity,  to  raving.  Religion  !  !  Yes 
this  is  the  religion  of  which  republicans  ate  deftitute.  Enter- 
taining no  projects  of  oppreffion  againft  their  fellow  citizens, 
but  aiming  by  the  fimpleft  plained  means  to  accomplifli  their 
greateft  good,  they  have  no  need  to  offer  bribes  to  a  prieft-hood. 
They  are  friends  to  true  religion,  to  real  piety,  to  every  prin- 
ciple that  has  a  tendency  to  increafe  the  virtue  and  happinefs 
of  men.  It  is  only  when  priefts  defert  the  duties  of  their 
profeflion  and  become  the  inftruments  of  faction  that  they  meet 
the  reproaches  of  republicans. 

The  federalifts  driven  from  the  government  of  the  United 
States  have  hitherto  found  means  to  maintain  a  preponderance  in 
feveral  of  the  ftate  governments  where  they  ftill  wage  a  fpitefui 
war  againft  republicanifm  and  its  friends.  Let  us  come  home 
to  our  own  State  of  Connecticut.  Will  it  be  denied  that  at 
this  moment  the  government  of  Connecticut  is  fet  in  hoftile 
array  againft  the  exifting  government  of  the  nation  ?  againft 
that  immenfe  majority  of  men  and  of  ftates  who  love  and  cher- 
ifh  the  prefent  adminiftration  and  the  principles  on  which  they 
act  ?  No,  this  cannot  be  denied,  for  it  is  a  fact  of  which  no 
man  is  ignorant.  It  is  true  that  no  man  who  avows  his 
approbation  of  the  meafures  of  the  prefent  adminiftration  re- 


ceives  the  countenance  of  our  ftate  government.  It  is  true  that 
republicans  are  fuperceded  in  office  merely  becaufe  they  are 
republicans.  It  is  true  that  federalifts  forego  no  means  in  their 
power  to  keep  alive  the  unreafonable  hatreds  and  jealoufies 
which  they  have  excited  againft  the  general  government  and  its 
friends  ;  and  yet  thefe  men  talk  of  reconciliation.  What  do 
they  mean  by  reconciliation  ?  Will  they  unite  in  fupporting  re- 
publican  meafures,  will  they  renounce  their  error  and  do 
juftice  to  thofe  men  and  thofe  meafures  that  have  faved  our 
country  from  ruin  and  placed  it  in  a  ftate  of  profperity  never 
before  known  upon  earth  ?  Let  them  do  this,  and  republicans 
will  be  reconciled  to  them. 

Republicaniiin  and  federajifm  can  never  unite,  can  never  be 
reconciled,  they  ate  liberty  and  flavery,  they  are  terms  of  ef- 
fential  oppofition.  It  has  been  obferved  of  Jate,  that  fome  of 
the  ruling  party  in  Connecticut  have  aflumed  a  language  like 
this. — We  allow  that  the  meafures  of  the  general  government 
are  wife,  that  our  affairs  are  conduced  better  than  our  fears  pre- 
dicted. What  then  ?  Our  ftate  government  is  a  totally  different 
thing  from  the  general  government — Why  do  you  wifh  to  make 
a  change  among  the  officers  of  the  ftate  government  ?  Our 
anfwer  is,  becaufe  many  officers  of  our  ftate  government  are 
federalifts,  or  are  ignorantly  acting  the  part  of  federalifts — 
that  is,  they  are  enemies  of  liberty  and  of  the  friends  of  liber- 
ty ;  they  are  enemies  of  the  general  government  and  of  the 
principles  on  which  it  is  conducted  ;  they  keep  the  ftate  in  a 
pofture  of  hoftility  to  the  federal  government,  and  fo  long  as 
they  have  power  to  prevent  it  they  will  never  permit  a  cordial 
co-operation  of  the  ftate  with  the  general  government. 

Thequeftioa  is  not,  fellow  citizens,  whether  Jonathan  Trum- 
bull,  or  Ephraim  Kirdy,  or  any  other  man,  {hall  be  governor 
of  the  ftate  of  Connecticut,  but  whether  the  ftate  of  Cannecti- 
cut  mall  be  cordially  reftored  to  the  bofom  of  that  family  of 
which  fhe  was  once  an  honorable,  a  highly  efteemed  member, 
or  the  prefent  alienations  be  encouraged  and  encreafed  until 
they  fhall  arrive  to  the  ftate  of  open  rupture.  The  prefent  ftate 
of  things  cannot  long  exift,  it  cannot  be  ftationary,  and  th« 
bickerings  between  the  government  of  this  ftate  and  of  the 
United  States  muft  end  in  reconciliation,  or  they  muft  end  in 
war.  What  then  is  the  object  of  thofe  federalifts  who  direct  the 
operations  of  the  party,  and  who  are  refponfible  for  all  the  con- 
fequences  of  their  enterprizes  ?  Do  they  expect  to  break  there- 
publican  ftates  down  to  their  meafures  ?  No,  their  folly  cannot 
(bar  fo  high.  Do  they  contemplate  a  diffolution  of  the  union? 
Dare  they  look  on  the  confequences  of  an  event  like  that  ?  If 
they  have  ever  turned  their  eyes  that  way,  let  them  tremble. 
No,  fellow  citizens,  this  is  furely  an  idle  tear.  We  know  that 
you  may  be,  many  of  you  have  been  deceived  with  regard  to 
the  views  and  meafures  of  the  two  great  political  parties  ;  how 
long  this  delufion  will  continue  we  know  not ;  but  we  know 
that  you  are  in  general  republicans,  attached,  as  ardently  as  any 
men  on  earth,  to  a  free  and  frugal  government ;  you  cannot 
therefore  be  induced  to  throw  away  .your  liberties,  to  plunge  a 
dagger  into  your  own  vitals. 


[     16     3 

A  thoufand  abfurdities  have  been  uttered  relative  to  the  plans 
of  the  republicans  in  cafe  they  mall  obtain  a  majority  in  the  le- 
giflature  of  this  ftate.  Almoft  all  the  views  of  republicans,  fo 
far  as  we  know  them,  we  have  already  explained.  Republi- 
cans have  no  projefts  hoftile  to  religion,  its  minifters,  or  its  or- 
dinances ;  in  this  refpecl:  they  hold  it  to  be  eflentially,  and  un- 
der all  circumftances  wrong  and  tyrannical  for  a  government  to 
interpofe  any  further  than  may  be  neceiTary  to  prevent  the  viola- 
tion of  the  peace  of  fociety.  They  would  reftore  elections  to  that 
freedom  from  perfonal  and  pecuniary  influence  which  they  for- 
merly enjoyed.  To  the  militia,  to  all  thofe  men  who  are  thought 
•worthy  to  be  intruded  with  the  defence  of  liberty,  they  would 
extend  the  right  of  fuffrage,  that  mod  important  right  of  free- 
men. They  would  divide  the  (rate  into  diftricts  for  the  election 
of  councillors  and  of  members  of  Congrefs-  Thefe  are  the  ino- 
vations,  if  fuch  they  may  be  called,  which  republicans  have  at 
heart. 

It  is  not  peculiarly  our  caufe,  fellow  citizens,  that  we 
are  pleading,  but  your  own  caufe,  the  caufe  of  our  common 
country,  the  caufe  of  the  whole  human  race,  for  the  whole 
human  race  are  interefted  in  the  refult  of  the  experiment  now 
on  trial  here.  We  afc  of  you  no  implicit  faith  ;  but  we  re- 
quoit,  we  befeech  you  to  lay  afide  prejudice,  to  examine  im- 
partially, and  with  a  lincere  defire  to  difcover  the  truth,  what- 
ever may  be  urged  in  favor  of  the  projects  of  either  party.  Sure- 
]y  we  ought  to  be  heard,  when  we  requeft  only  that  you  will 
•with  coolnefs  and  firmnefs  purfue  your  own  higheft  happinefs — 
and  as  liberty  has  now,  on  this  globe,  no  abode  but  with  us, 
that  you  will  not  madly  combine  with  her  enemies,  to  drive  her 
from  the  face  of  the  earth. 

Signed  by  order  of  the  General  Committee, 

LE7I  I7ES,  Jun.  ChrL 
[Aug.  30.  1803] 


Republican  Nomination  for  Council. 


EPHRAIM  8»KS*,STATttt. 
WILLIAM   HART, 
THOMAS  SEYMOUR, 
JONATHAN  BULL, 
EBENEZER  BARNARD, 
RUFUS  HITCHCOCK, 
ELIJAH  MUNSON, 
ASA  Sl'ALDING, 
LATHAM  HULL, 
EL1SHA  HYDL, 


JABEZ  FITCH, 
WALTER  BRADLEY, 
JABEZ  H.  TOMLlNSON, 
EBENEZER  DEVOTION.. 
DANIEL    T1LDEN, 
JOHN   WELCH, 
ELIJAH   BOARDMAN, 
ISAAC  SPENCER,  ad. 
JOHN  T.  PETERS, 
SAMUEL  WHITTELSEY. 


> 


TTES,  Levi,  physiciaji^ b.  in  1750 ;  d.  in  New 
Haven,  Conn.,  17  OcT.,  1826.  He  was  a  skilful 
practitioner,  a  founder  of  the  New  Haven  medical  ^ 
^sgciety,  and  one  of  the  editors  of  " Cases" aTTd  Ob-  "" 
x— ""servation,"  which  was  reputed  to  be  the  first  medi- 
cal journal  that  was  published  in  the  United  States. 
— His  son,  Eli,  physician,  b.  in  New  Haven,  Conn., 
7  Feb.,  1779 ;  d.  there,  8  Oct.,  1861,  was  graduated 
at  Yale  in  1799,  and  for  the  next  two  years  was 
rector  of  the  Hopkins  grammar-school  in  New 
Haven.  He  studied  medicine  in  the  mean  time,  and 
in  1801  began  practice  with  his  father,  meeting 
with  great  success.  In  1813,  together  with  the 
elder  Silliman,  he  secured  the  establishment  of  the 
^"medical  department  of  Yale  college,  and  he  was 
professor  of  materia  medica  there  from  1813  till 
1829.  He  occupied  the  chair  of  the  theory  and 
practice  of  medicine  from  1829  till  1852,  when  he 
resigned,  but  subsequently  resumed  his  professor- 
ship for  a  short  period.  He  gave  special  attention 
to  indigenous  vegetable  remedies,  and  was  one  of 
the  first  to  employ  chloroform,  having  administered 
it  in  1831  by  inhalation  for  the  relief  of  a  case  of 
difficult  respiration.  He  founded,  and  was  for 
many.4rears  president  of,  the  Horticultural  and 
Pomological  societies,  and  spent  much  time  and 
labor  in  the  maintenance  of  a  botanical  garden. 
He  had  been  president  of  the  State  and  National 
medical  association,  and  was  an  active  advocate  of 
temperance,  education,  and  emancipation.  He  con- 
tributed four  articles  to  the  "  Journal  of  Science," 
and  published  an  "  Address  before  the  New  Haven 
Horticultural  Society  "  (1837).  —  Eli's  grandson, 
Charles  Linnaeus,  physician,  b.  in  New  Haven, 
Conn.,  22  June,  1831,  was  graduated  at  Yale  in 
1852,  and  at  Jefferson  medical  college,  Philadel- 
phia, in  1854.  He  began  practice  in  New  Haven 
in  1856,  and  in  1868-'73  was  professor  of  the  theory 
and  practice  of  medicine  in  Yale.  He  is  the  au- 
thor of  an  article  on  "  Prophylaxis  of  Phthisis  Pul- 
monalis,"  and  a  prize  essay  on  the  '•  Therapeutic 
Value  of  Mercury  and  its  Preparations,"  both  pub- 
lished by  the  Connecticut  medical  society. 


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